My Triumphs, My Mistakes

Source: TV Guide

Wow. This was another one of those episodes that tossed me around and made me question all of what I believed. It is amazing to me that this show can do that to me on a regular basis. Did Baltar, who I love to hate, actually have a point? It should be wrong that I feel some sympathy for that devil who pretty much sold out the human race, but when he actually changed his accent and went with that deep gravely voice from his original colony, I got chills. It really hit home for me since as a teen I spent a great deal of time trying to rid myself of a Maine accent before I went to college in the big city so that I would better fit in. Is it wrong to want options, to not have your destiny be predetermined by your birthplace? Tyrol wanting his son and other children from the poor colonies, to be more than just a deckhand or a tylium refiner seems like a perfectly natural course of events. I didn't blame Galen one bit for calling a strike after the aspiring architect Danny severely damaged his arm doing a job that he'd been drafted into.

But then Adama gave his impassioned speech and I thought that he had a good point too. "Understand me. The very survival of the ship may depend on someone getting an order that they don't want to do. And if they hesitate, if they feel the orders are sometimes optional, then this ship will perish and so will your son and the entire human race." I so thought that Cally was a goner for a minute there, same feeling I had last week, but Tyrol gave in. But I don't know that Cally will be so proud when she realizes that her husband mostly caved in order to save her life. She seems like the rabble-rouser in the family and definitely the one of them who was initially influenced by Baltar's words.

No wonder Roslin was so gung-ho to get the additional chapters from Gaius' book before they reached the masses. Again, I almost felt bad for Gaius (such a strange feeling) when Roslin began to have him stripped down to find the pages. Thanks to Six he handled it so well, "Perhaps you'll consider writing a blurb for the back cover." Again, chills. But his jail house journal caused quite a ruckus and was what brought the whole issues of classes to a boil. Zeno and his crew had been running on empty for a long time, working non-stop since the original Cylon attacks to keep the fleet going, but having someone like Baltar bring the class issue up, elevated the situation from bad to worse. "Do you honestly think that the fleet will ever be commanded by someone whose last name is not Adama?" Strong words from someone who went from farmer to president of the colonies. But it definitely seems like there is a class system among the humans, that seriously needs to be addressed before the situation gets worse. I felt for that little eleven-year-old kid who alternated between anger at the poor work conditions to almost eagerly asking Tyrol if he could be the one to turn the entire assembly line on. It is almost as if he was resigned to his fate, but yet proud of the fact that he knew how to work every machine on the fuel refinery ship.

It is a little disconcerting that the entire fleet barely has enough fuel to jump away, and mistakes, like a Viper crashing into Roslin's ship, could have been much more costly if there were an attack by the Cylons. So I get why Roslin was so adamant that people just keep on working. I thought her agreement with the reluctant union leader Tyrol was probably the best way to handle the situation all things considered, though it still seems like she got the better end of the deal, for now at least. I think it would be great to see her getting her hands dirty with the laundry. Then again, there is a party of me with a dirty mind that loved Adama's comment to her, "You're always welcome in one of my beds." Nice. I love that the writers of this show slide little things like that in there, alluding to sort of a sexual tension between the two of them, but not actually bringing it to fruition.

Another week with no cylons (aside from the Six in Baltar's head)… or at least none that we know of. The absence of them is keeping me so on edge for when they eventually return. God, I love this show.

On a side note, while I missed seeing Baltar (James Callis) and Six (Tricia Helfer) at the NY Comic Con this weekend, I did get to speak with Jamie Bamber on the phone. He's quite delightful and gave me a little preview of what to expect the rest of the season.